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Published on Wednesday, Aug
4, 2010 at 1355 Hrs. IST
With the spirit of celebration continues on this epochal
85th year of His Divine Advent, every region, every
country, every state is taking its turn to present an
offering of love and gratitude to the “Master Beloved”
in human form at His ‘headquarters’ in Prasanthi
Nilayam. With the ever increasing inflow of devotees
ahead of the 85th Birthday celebrations, the Prasanthi
Calendar of group events had been finalized well in
advance and these regions, countries and states are
currently on a celebrating spree, taking their due
slots, making the best of their offering.
Joining this band, came a group of about 600 from far
off Southern Europe to Prasanthi Nilayam, in the process
exemplifying one of the favourite Sathya Sai maxims,
Unity in Diversity. This group of precisely 580, 400
ladies and 180 men are from Region 6 of Sri Sathya Sai
Organisations – Overseas and the participating countries
are Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Greece,
Italy, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland.
On their scheduled day, on the evening of 2nd July, they
had a unique choir presentation entitled “Unity in
Diversity” in the immediate Divine presence of Bhagawan.
In the evening, upon coming onstage at 1805 hrs., after
a twenty-five minute long darshan round, Bhagawan
blessed the organizers from the region to commence the
programme.
Starting with three Omkars, chanted in perfect unison
and devotional fervor, the group burst into a short
stint of Vedic chants before commencing the choir
presentation.
The choir that consisted of six national choirs had nine
songs sung in unison. The first song was an English one
on purity, light and joy. “And let it shine, and let it
shine, in the heart of mine, Love Divine…” the
choristers sung in chorus. One could witness the spark
of joy and love for God shining in their faces as every
member of the group joined in singing with great passion
and devotional fervour.
As indicated by Bhagawan, subsequently, each song was
preceded by an introduction in English. The song to
follow was “Potpourri”, a scintillating Italian medley.
Electrifying an already charged up hall with vibrant
beats and tunes they sung in chorus into the heart of
the Divine keeping the audience spellbound.
A Swiss number followed, “De frohe Senn”, describing a
shepherd like Lord Krishna, happy to be in the mountains
with His cows. This was ably assisted by the typical
Swiss musical instrument alphorn that produced music
magic.
A spanish number followed, with the song “Salve Rociera”,
generally sung to the Virgin of Rocia as an offering of
love to the Divine Mother. This song had in it the
famous Spanish word “Ole” which is an expression of deep
feeling, and the singers indeed made full justice to
this phrase as they sang with vigour and emotion
effortlessly alternating between high and low notes.
A French tune followed, that reflected the pilgrimage of
souls that are searching for their true home. Greek came
up with a piece entitled “Get Up and Dance Syrtaki”, a
typical folklore Syrtaki dance (a popular dance of Greek
origin) song and it was again unique because it was
accompanied by Bouzouki, a traditional Greek instrument.
The next song was the second one in Spanish which was
composed to the rhythm of Buleria, one of the most
important tempos of the famous Flamenco music (part of
Spanish culture). The lyrics exalted there is no “You”
or “I” but only God. After this interesting piece, there
was another song in Greek entitled “The Myrtle Tree –
Hartaetoi” and again the strings of Bouzouki filled the
air to everyone’s delight. This song talked about the
spiritual quest of a person seeking to build a sanctuary
of love and the song’s verses were dedicated to Swami
adoring Him as their Mother and Father.
A bhajan in Indian tongue, Dam Dam Dam Dam Damaru Bhaje…
followed, before the final refrain, “Love All Serve
All”, theme song of the European Youth Project that
spoke about the journey from humanity to Divinity.
This en masse devotional rendering in varied tongues was
enhanced by scintillating musical score by varied hands
on varied instruments. While the Swizz brought the long
wooden shaped alphorn or alpenhorn that consists of
natural wooden horn of conical bore, having a wooden
cup-shaped mouth opening, the Greeks had their favourite
Bouzouki, a stringed instrument with a pear-shaped body
and a very long neck followed by the Spaniards with
Cajon. The front row occupants, numbering over twenty
five, had their hands on an array of other musical
instruments, namely, guitars, violins, clarinets, metal
flutes, an electronic keyboard, a drum, mridangam etc.,
spicing up the session with high musical beats. The
presentation comprising of six individual choirs,
English, Italian, Swiss, Spanish, French and Greek had
six different conductors, sung by all the choristers in
a voice of unity.
At the end of the forty minute session, special Italian
prasadam was blessed by Bhagawan and, as the ‘choir’
continued to sing bhajans as permitted by Bhagawan, the
blessed prasadam was distributed to the choristers.
Bhajans in Indian tongue, emerged from over 600 vocal
cords with Bhagawan presiding over the session crowning
the dais, literally lit the waning twilight inducing
great devotional fervour.
crowning the dais, literally lit the waning twilight
inducing great devotional fervour.
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Monday, Aug
2, 2010:- Sai News & Photo Updates - Today, this
evening, a brief pause ensued, after the regular one hour Vedic
chants, before Bhagawan emerged at 1740 hrs. to a fresh round of
Vedic chants. Coming for a complete round of darshan. Bhagawan moved
through the pathway, quite slow, blessing many, including a strong
600 plus contingent from Southern Europe, scheduled to sing in the
evening. As Bhagawan came onto the portico,He was greeted with Rose
by some of the prominent names in Indian Business Industry,
including N.Chandrasekharan, CEO, Tata Consultancy Service and
Jagdish Capoor, Chairman, HDFC Bank.
Gliding past the lower portico, coming onstage at 1805 hrs., from
the right of Ganesha, Bhagawan blessed the officials from Choir
group to commence the programme.
Yes, the spirit of celebration continues in Prasanthi. Celebrating
the Divine proximity men and women from Region 6, of Sathya Sai Seva
Organisations - Overseas, comprising of ten countries, namely,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Macedonia,
Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland joined together to present a "Unity
in Diversity' concert, singing an array of songs in English, French,
Italian, Swiss, Spanish and Greek ending with a closing refrain
"Love All Serve All".
This en masse devotional rendering in varied tongue had the
accompaniment of fine piece of music scored by different hands on
different instruments. At the end of the forty minute session,
special Italian prasadam was blessed by Bhagawan and, as the
choristers continued with bhajans, this prasadam was distributed to
the Choir members.
Bhajans in Indian tongue, emerged from over 600
vocal cords with Bhagawan presiding over the session crowning the
dais, literally lit the waning twilight inducing great devotional
fervour.
Accepting Mangala Arathi after three bhajans, Bhagawan moved off the
dais to get into His car at 1915 hrs., retiring for the day.
Now, from Prasanthi Mandir to the hallowed portals of Sri Sathya Sai
Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam.
A high-profile Management Development Programme on the theme
“Innovation and Leadership in Business, Government and Community” is
being held in the Multimedia Room of the Prasanthi Nilayam Campus
under the auspices of School of Business Management of Sri Sathya
Sai Institute of Higher Learning, Prasanthi Nilayam.
The programme got underway this morning with Dr. R. Chidambaram,
Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, lighting
the lamp, officially inaugurating the programme in presence of
scores of other distinguished participants and University officials.
Prominent names, apart from Dr. R.Chidambaram, participating in the
three day programme are Sharad C. Bhargava, Senior VP, L & T, N.
Chandrasekharan, CEO, Tata Consultancy Services, Jagdish Capoor,
Chairman, HDFC Bank, V. Raja, President & CEO, GE Healthcare, India,
RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd., Robert Naylor,
Former CIO, US Small Business Administration, Dr. JS Sarma,
Chairman, TRAI, Sam Ganga, Senior VP, Digital Management, Ramnathan
V Guha, Distinguished Scientist, Google and Krishna Mikkilineni,
President, Honeywell Technology Solutions etc.
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